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“Egg? Egg? Egg where are you? Come here–!”
Wemmbu spawned on the cobblestone towers at spawn, cluttered with new players spawning in, some falling to their deaths, some stuck and being recruited into the law. Wemmbu looked around, his hands shaking ever since losing sight of the others before he heard a yell from a familiar, gruff sounding voice.
“Wemmbu! Shit, bro come here, we need to invis up–”
Wemmbu found Flame’s silhouette and rushed to him, knocking people away as he did so. Flame waited, his feet tapping the ground before splashing the two in invis and trying to move out of the crowd of people joining the server. “Yo, Flame, d’you know where Egg’s gone? And Parrot?” Wemmbu whispered as he followed Flame’s particles as they tried to rush out of the tower. Flame continued on and pulled Wemmbu by his wrist as he muttered, “No idea, bro.”
Wemmbu’s heart was about to burst–losing Egg after reuniting with him just a few minutes ago was not what he wanted. Not at all. He was panicking. He didn't want Egg to die. He didn’t want to lose Egg. He was about to break down when an alarming message presented itself in the server wide chat.
Agent123123 was slain by eggchan
Agent123123 left the game
“Ayo what–”
Wemmbu barked out a laugh, his eyes nearly watering from how much he was laughing. He knew he had to stop since the point of an invis potion was to be invisible but he couldn’t stop. Eggchan, innocent Eggchan, killed a player by accident. Wemmbu only snapped out of it when he heard Flame cursing.
“Fuck. he probably killed a LAW soldier. Quick, go, go, go. And put on some armour, Wemm.”
Wemmbu immediately equipped the armour Minute had prepared for him, before continuing to sprint towards the bridge that led to Capital city. Wemmbu saw Parrot and Theobald’s figures running towards them before spotting their worried expressions. Flame and Wemmbu slowed down, gathering near Parrot before finally seeing the invis particles beside them. “Yo, Egg, why did you kill that player, bro?”
Egg sounded vaguely amused as he chuckled slightly. “I dunno bruh. Spur of the moment you know?”
Wemmbu nearly fell over laughing. “PFTTT–! Spur of the moment—”
Before they could continue their banter, Flame and Parrot had started shoving them along. The withers were fast approaching and so was the LAW. They had to start leaving. “Go, dude, go. We have to leave–we’ve got to leave.”
The five sprinted out onto the bridge, stopping once occasionally to divert agro from the withers to someone else.
Then they finally arrived at the border of Capital City.
—--------------------------------------------------------
“Parrot–!”
A popping sound erupted into the air as Parrot’s totem broke, confetti spraying onto the ground. Time felt slow, almost frozen as Parrot took a step back and jerked around. Theo’s face was frozen in panic, eyes wide in shock (why bro?). Wemmbu, face gone pale with fear (since when did Wemmbu show fear?) and his hands were shaking. Flame was using his arm to block debris as he stood in front of Wemmbu like a wall (I didn’t know Flame cared that much for Wemmbu). And Eggchan was frozen beside Wemmbu. Parrot couldn’t see his expression but the audible gasp made him think that Egg was surprised.
But how did my totem pop– oh.
“LettuceK.”
Lettuce stood in front of them, mace out, a shit-eating smirk on his face. The_Oroboros and SargeLAW stood next to him, weapons primed as Lettuce walked forward towards Wemmbu ignoring Flame who stood by Wemmbu, teeth biting into his lip and drawing blood. “Wemmbu,” Lettuce gripped Wemmbu by his chin, nails digging into flesh, tilting his head up and inspecting him like merchandise or an object for collection, “Miss me?”
Rain poured down onto his head as Wemmbu stood there, eyes wide, lips shaking, paler than Parrot had ever seen him. He saw Wemmbu’s eyes darting from side to side, scared and panicky. Lettuce grabbed Wemmbu by the collar still on his neck, an intense look in eyes, his mouth opening as he tried to propose a contract as he had before. Until something snapped.
“Hands off, bitch.”
Flame clasped his hand onto Lettuce’s arm and roughly pushed him off Wemmbu. A venomous expression on his face–bleeding lip, fangs bared. Lettuce laughed. He tilted his head back, a mocking light in his eyes. “Hands off? Hahaha…Hands off! You’re very funny, FlameFrags. Wemmbu is still my property. You see that shock collar? I have access to it. I can blow it up, shock him, anything! You can’t keep him from me. Eventually, he’ll come back to the LAW anyway. What’s the problem with bringing him back earlier?”
Flame gritted his teeth, his jaw tense. “What’s wrong is you trying to gaslight the entire server into thinking you’re the saviour of the server where in reality, bro, you’re a tyrant trying to rule over the entire server and ridding people who you feel will get in the way of your plans.”
Parrot speaks up, his heart still beating from the near-death experience but his voice steady, “That makes you no different from Wemmbu and Flame, Lettuce. You’re just becoming someone you swore to the entire server that you’d never become.”
Lettuce took a step back, an emotionless mask back on. His eyes stared down at the five of them, condescending and almost…pitying. In that one tick, Lettuce pearled straight behind Wemmbu and gripped him by the neck as he gave one steady command: “Oroboros, Sarge, kill them–”
—--------------------------------------------------------
Jaden_Man maced Lettuce, a worried look in his eyes as Lettuce’s totem popped. Jaden grabbed Wemmbu away from Lettuce’s hands as chaos broke loose. Lettuce let out a “Fuck!” before Theo placed down a rail and a TNT minecart and blew it up.
Pop.
Theo had to start trading blows with Sarge, half worrying about Parrot while he splashed the potions on one after another while Eggchan and Parrot were cornered by Oroboros.
“Is that all you got, SaaargeLAAAW?” Theo mocked as he blew up cart after cart, popping totem after totem before SargeLAW had pearled away to safety.
Just as Theo turned away from SargeLAW, his eyes widened and his feathers paled as he saw Parrot’s totem pop again. “Fuck. Parrot–”
Theo tried to cart Oroboros but he just ended up pearling away and slashing him in the back. Theo grunted, his teeth getting as he jerked back and blew up a TNT cart in Oroboros’ face. He was knocked back, his face impassive but his eyes blazing. He struck forward, nearly cutting into Theobald’s feathers before being knocked back by another cart.
Meanwhile, Jaden was trying to prevent Lawmen from injuring a severely traumatised Wemmbu while Flame was trying to brutally murder LettuceK. His eyes were burning with rage as he critted out and popped Lettuce’s totems one after another before Lettuce disappeared in a flash of purple particles.
One second, Flame was hacking at Lettuce as the totems healed him, the next, Flame was stabbing air. “Shit–oh, my god! You–!”
All that was left was Oroboros, his eyes widening when he realised he was abandoned and left out to die. Before he could even spit out a single syllable, Flame critted him out and he was gone.
The_Oroboros was slain by FlameFrags using Fragger
The_Oroboros left the game
All that in a few minutes.
But yet, they couldn’t let their guards down. There were still a lot of Lawmen rushing at them, point-blank, weapons raised. Many of their comrades fell to Flame, Theo and Jaden as they told the other three to get onto boats before Theo carted a huge crowd of them and pearling onto the boats–Theobald with Parrot, Flame with Eggchan and Jaden with Wemmbu.
“Guys, just follow me–”
“Bro, why should we trust you?”
“Dude, he helped us bro.”
“Yeah, but like bro–”
Parrot snapped his head to look at Flame, “We don’t care about your past relations with Jaden. Let’s just…get to safety first, yeah?”
Flame fell silent as Egg steered the boat to the direction Jaden was going. He bit his lip as he furiously refused to look at Parrot and Jaden, instead focusing on how Wemmbu had freezed earlier before the fight. Meanwhile, Jaden was muttering under his breath at how ungrateful Flame was before turning to look behind and check up on Wemmbu, seeing how he froze during the confrontation with Lettuce.
“Yo, Wemm.”
Wemmbu starts; he looks up at Jaden, a wave of familiarity hitting as his eyes turned glassy, and with a hoarse voice, “Yo, Jaden.”
“You okay?”
“‘M alright.”
Jaden scoffs, before turning his head back to the front to focus on rowing. “Sure you are.” Jaden continues rowing pausing at small intervals to make sure the rest were following before continuing. The silence was comfortable, peaceful even before Flame had to disturb it with a loud drawl.
“Yo, when are we arriving at…wherever-you’re-taking-us is?”
Parrot, Theoblad and Jaden gave a collective groan before Jaden replied with a curt tone, “Almost there.”
“And curious, where are you taking us?”
“...The Great Sea.”
Wemmbu tilted his head slightly as he pondered over Jaden’s reply. “Bro, why did you help us anyway? Lettuce–” Wemmbu winces slightly at the name, “is bound to exile you from the server.” As Wemmbu finished his sentence, Jaden snorted before chuckling and slowing down his rowing speed. “...The LAW doesn't exactly cover the Great Sea.”
He paused before adding thoughtfully, “I helped because we’re allies now.” Wemmbu laughed. “Daaal’right bro. Sappy much?” Jaden grinned and continued rowing. As they did so, the massive structure finally came to view.
Pirate Civilisation.
The mega-base, Wemmbu had given Jaden when he paraded around as an Invis player. When he was free. When he killed TheLobsterMan for his civilisation. When he didn’t have to worry about being caught by LettuceK. Before Parrot had revealed HIS identity– No, no, no, don’t think about it, Wemmbu. He’s helping now. Forgive him. Just like rejoice would say. Forgive and forget. Forgive and forget, Wemmbu.
“Wow.” He heard Parrot’s small sound of astonishment. They sailed through the gates and the view of the Civilisation–once nearly barren, now thriving with activity–came into full view. Even Flame had to give a disgruntled sound of approval while he surveyed the town.
They all got off their boats at the docks, Jaden holding out a helpful hand for Wemmbu as he stepped out. “Thanks,” Wemmbu grumbled as he took Jaden’s hand to hoist him up onto the wooden docks. He ruffled his damaged wings as he looked up to the mega-base at the top of the Civilisation. “You sure work quick.”
Jaden just chuckled a thanks and led them to the entrance of the base.
“Welcome…to Pirate Civilisation.”
—----------------------------------------------------
Flame was going to get whiplash. Every few seconds, the Blaze hybrid was jerking his head around, taking everything in; the mega-base, the interior, everything. He opened almost every chest they passed by without asking, whistling appreciatively at the stocks of potions and food.
Parrot slapped Flame’s back, hissing out a “focus” before tugging him forward to the meeting room. Everyone was already settling into the chairs as they entered. Parrot settled beside Theo whilst Flame just stood there awkwardly and stiffly took a seat in an empty chair with no one beside him. Alone.
Alone.
Jaden cleared his throat. “So…what were you all trying to do just now? You guys do know that Flame and Wemmbu are Wanted right? Like why are you guys going to Capital freaking City bro…”
“We were escaping from the freaking Withers bro. Dude, Capital city was the closest shelter.”
Jaden groans, his body slumping forward onto the table as he grumbles, “You guys have Elytras for god’s sake bro. Use them bruh..” He sat up straight again and signalled to a guard who respectfully moved to Jaden’s side and upon hearing Jaden’s whispered orders, he bowed low and left.
“What was that about, Jaden?” Flame raised his eyebrows, his eyes following the player as they left the room. He heard a muffled sigh as Jaden looked at Flame. “I asked everyone to prepare for a fight. Just in case.”
Flame got up from his chair and stretched–it was too stuffy in here, too formal. He wasn’t used to it nor was he comfortable with it. Without a word, he left the room and took a flight of stairs to the balcony where he hung around, breathing in the fresh air, feeling free.
“Yo bro.”
Flame jumped, his shoulder tensing as he turned around to see the purple demon leaning against the doorway, smirking. Flame muttered a cuss under his breath before smiling slightly at Wemmbu. He hesitated before asking Wemmbu about Jaden.
“Wemmbu bro, like…why do you trust Jaden bro? I thought he tried to kill you before…like bro…” Flame scratches his head, his eyes flickering away from Wemmbu before locking back onto those violent purple eyes. “How can you trust someone who tried to kill you before?”
Wemmbu looked to the sky thoughtfully before walking over and leaning against the balcony railing. Flame’s eye flickered over to Wemmbu’s lightly bandaged wings as he waited for Wemmbu’s answer. “You know, Flame, you tried to kill me before and like, I'm trusting you right now bro. I guess like when I was, you know…invis ‘n stuff, I was trying to ban Boosfer. But like, I literally did not know where to find him, so like, I kind of joined Jaden’s voyage to find treasure in the Great Sea. I–well, we didn’t find it but I guess I kind of felt like I owed it to him for not being snoopy and prying into my business so I killed the leader of this–” Wemmbu waved at the out crop of houses built into the civilisation. “—mega-base and He kind of found out my identity. You know?”
Wemmbu sighed, “I guess I kind of already trusted him from the first fight we had gotten into but…”
Flame listened to Wemmbu trail off into silence. His eyes flickered back once again to Wemmbu’s wings and he opened his mouth before closing it and opening it again. “Your wings…they’re getting better right?”
The purple demon nodded just as Eggchan had reached them. As Flame watched the two friends banter, a large horn sounded in the horizon.
What?